Professor C (camren)

16.5 - Jauregui (Part 2)

And sure enough, she was.

Lauren's fright had never been as explosive. Between her loud gasp and her legs propelling her and her seat back, she would have been convinced no other commotion could have been louder. But before she could arrive that conclusion, she could hear her heart in her ears as it sent chills to ravage her body up to the tips of her fingers and toes.

She could have sworn her soul left her body for a moment, took its time to laugh at her agony before it assumed its right position once more.

All the while, the toddler watched in amusement, desperately biting her laughter back.

It was the second time in a row and there was only so much Lauren could do to keep herself from cursing.

"Look, Mauwen!" Giggling, Pebble raised her hands, one bearing a broken pink crayon while the other a sheet of paper with her little disproportionate sketch of what seemed to be a woman in it.

It would have been a puzzle. In the past, Lauren only had to guess among three possibilities. Then again, it was a little too...young to be Mrs. Villanueva and the image of what Pebble assumed as her mother would always be wearing a white dress. Given that the other two have been crossed out, Lauren attempted to picture herself in the drawing but she just couldn't.

Brown disheveled hair, traced in Pebble's best ability and thinner pink lips were in contrast with the pitch black tresses and full red lips that the toddler often portrayed Lauren in.

"Will she like it, Mauwen?" Pebble asked with genuine interest and the slowly forming frown on her features were telling Lauren of her fear of rejection.

"Who, baby?" Lauren pushed the laptop aside and leaned into the table to see the toddler fully, smiling at her in the hopes of appeasing her. "But I promise you, she will like it, okay?"

"Auntie Mila." Pebble shrieked, loudly, at that and careened back to the adjacent room, quite satisfied with Lauren's answer, leaving the psychologist wide-eyed and...at an utter loss for words.

That was her second ruthlessly unexpected reminder of Camila's birthday.

Lauren involuntarily held her breath, attempting to process what she had just heard while the rest of her body had been thrown into a pandemonium. Questions were abundant as her brows steadily met in between, creating gorges upon her forehead while she dumbly opened and closed her mouth.

She wanted to ask Pebble how and when she decided to call the Professor something more...familial. Did they even spend time together apart from that one afternoon Dinah and Camila volunteered to take her out?

In a slow and steady pace, her lungs began to burn as her body continued to consume oxygen without her replenishing it for a moment. There it was again, her racer for a heart. The conniving organ brought her reeling head and tingly body into forming an alliance with her, demanding for her to breathe.

Lauren didn't know what in the world was happening or what possessed Camila to accept Pebble and what she had just happily called her. Sure, her mind was quick to analyze every scenario that was the slightest bit plausible but she arrived at nothing.

However, atop her confusion was a speckle of gratification.

Camila was slowly forming little relationships with those around her instead of busying herself reinforcing the high walls she built for years on end.

-

With Lauren's desire to finish her task, she diligently worked until all the acceptance packets were sent to the admissions office. She delivered them herself; an arm cradling the packages while her free hand securely held onto Pebble's much tinier one. It made sense to drag the child along with her despite troubling her once more. But unlike her disposition towards Robert, Pebble happily skipped along with Lauren.